The Betrayal
by Riverstar of ShadowClan
Summary: Mistkit was born in a storm. Instead of saving the Clans from disaster, she becomes a medicine cat. Then she experiences many griefs and the once energetic she-cat becomes quiet and peaceful. It soon becomes obvious that there is an impostor in the Clan, and Mistflame gets a prophecy. Instead of focusing, she finds herself falling for a tom. What will she do? Rated T for violence.
1. Allegiances & Prologue

_**WARRIORS DISCLAIMER~ I do NOT own Warriors, nor did I have any part in the originals. I am merely a fan that wants to write using the same ideas.**_

_**STORY DISCLAIMER~ If you are an author on here reading this and you see anything that looks like what you have written, that is purely coincidence. I am sorry. If you see anything that looks too much like your work or something you have seen before, let me know by review or PM and I will gladly take it out / edit it. Thank you.**_

**Hello! Riverstar of ShadowClan here. This is my first story on here! I'm still new on here, so suggestions would be appreciated, as would tips and tricks for writing on FanFiction. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy The Betrayal!**

**Allegiances**

_ShadowClan_

Leader:

Briarstar - brown tabby she-cat

Deputy:

Cinderstreak - black tom with a lone white stripe across face

Medicine Cat:

Aspentail - mottled gray tom

Warriors:

Acornpelt - brown tom

Buzzardstripe - light gray tom

Coldflower - white and black she-cat

Chasingpelt - fluffy gray tom

Bayflight - russet she-cat

Barkclaw - dark brown tom

Hawkshadow - dark gray she-cat

Galefang - handsome gray tom

Hornetflash - golden and black tom

Jaggedclaw - black tom with long, jagged claws

Marshtail - gray she-cat with white tail

Shredfur - brown tabby tom with fur that sticks up in places

Queens:

Mistclaw - pretty dark gray she-cat with green eyes

Heatherfur - brown she-cat

Stonepelt - black she-cat

Lizardheart - tortoiseshell she-cat

Elders:

Slatepelt - gray tom

Applefur - dark russet she-cat

**Prologue**

Rain roared down, coating the ground in water and flooding the streams. The storm had gone on for nearly a quarter moon now. It wasn't good. Maybe RiverClan cats could handle this kind of downpour, but ShadowClan wasn't all that fond of water.

A queen screeched, and words of encouragement were heard from within the nursery. Usually the clearing was crowded, but with the storm, it was obvious they were all trying to keep somewhat dry.

A shriek sounded again, louder this time. "Almost over," a mottled gray tom assured the queen, but he sounded worried.

A brown tom rushed into the nursery, panicking. "Help her, Aspentail!"

"Calm down, Acornpelt. She'll be… okay." _I think_, he added silently.

"No! You can't pretend this is normal. You're the medicine cat! The storm, the abnormality of this birth - stop pretending nothing's going wrong. Everything's going wrong. The kitting's too early. There's too much blood. The storm. It's an omen. She's going to… to… to…." Acornpelt couldn't bring himself to say it. His voice sank to a murmur. "Save her, Aspentail. Please."

Aspentail looked at him, his eyes full of grief. "There's nothing I can do. It's too late. She'll be gone by the time she's kitted her fourth."

"No!" Acorntail howled in rage, pain, grief. "You're the medicine cat, for StarClan's sake. You're supposed to heal cats, not predict their deaths! HELP HER, you piece of fox-dung!"

Aspentail ignored him. Seconds later, the queen yowled. Then nothing more came out of the nursery.

"Mistclaw! No!" Acornpelt screeched as he ran to her side and nuzzled her head. "Don't leave me. The kits need you."

Mistclaw lifted her head weakly. "StarClan is calling me," she murmured. Rain pounded and her last words were barely audible. "Take care of them, my love."

Then she went limp, and Acornpelt shrieked furiously to the sky. "StarClan, how could you do this?"

"I'm sorry." Aspentail bowed his head. "If you want any reminder of her, help me with these kits. Please. If you don't they'll die."

Acornpelt growled. "All right." Aspentail nudged one over to him, and he started vigorously licking her.

"That's right. We need to keep them warm." _Although I'm not entirely sure that they'll survive this leaf-bare,_ Aspentail thought privately. _It's been too cold, and there's already one case of whitecough in the camp._

Acornpelt raised his head. "I haven't even seen the other kits. Where did you put them? You said there were four."

Aspentail lifted some pieces of moss under Mossclaw's old bed and pulled out the other two kits. Acornpelt pulled one of them toward him. "Why aren't they crying? I thought kits were supposed to be really loud at birth."

"They're... they're... Acornpelt, I'm so sorry. They're dead."

"Not more! StarClan, wasn't taking Mossclaw enough?"

"Acornpelt, this one was born silent, and the other was born weak. I'm sorry." _And the other two probably won't survive the next moon,_ Aspentail thought.

Acornpelt drew the surviving two kits closer to him, out of the rain. He glared at Aspentail. "I'm going to make sure they live through leaf-bare."

Aspentail nodded. "You need to give them to Heatherfur. They need milk, if you want to make sure they live through the night, much less leaf-bare."

"All right." Acornpelt pushed them toward the nursing queen.

The rain came down harder. Any sensible cat would take shelter. But Acornpelt was desperate. He stayed out in the rain all night, guarding Mossclaw's and the other two kits' bodies, grieving for them.

Morning came finally, and a brown tabby pushed through the nursery soaking wet. "Acornpelt. I'm sorry. Every cat will mourn the loss of a great warrior and two of her kits. May she be honored in StarClan."

Acornpelt turned toward her. "Why are you here? You don't come to kittings usually."

The tabby sat down and curled her tail over her paws. "I had a dream last night."

Acornpelt pricked his ears. "Really? I thought medicine cats only had dreams from StarClan. What is it?"

"A prophecy."

"Tell me. It's about the kits, isn't it, Briarstar? There's no other reason you'd come to me in the pouring rain after a kitting and tell me you had a dream."

"_Mist will rise up against the darkness that is not who they seem. One will perish, havoc will wreak among the Clans until the murderer is found, and mist will choose between power and death."_

"Mist? Mist? I named my daughter Mistkit, after Mistclaw! Do you think she's the one in the prophecy?"

Briarstar shrugged. "I don't know. But what I do know is that there will be a hard time for the Clans coming. And Mistkit could be the one in the prophecy. Just keep your eyes open, for there could be a betrayal coming."

**There's the prologue :D Sorry if the prophecy's really crappy and I only have one Clan in the allegiances, ShadowClan. In review or PM, please feel free to give me -**

**your opinion on the prologue**

**constructive criticism(no flames! But if you flame and then leave suggestions, totally fine with that, in fact I encourage it xD)**

**a better sounding prophecy (it has to keep the theme and all the parts)**

**any mistakes in grammar or spelling I've made(please don't be afraid to correct me)**

**RiverClan, ThunderClan or WindClan OCs that I can steal, in this form:**

**Warrior name**

**A short description of pelt and eye color**

**Personality(this one's optional)**

**Any other bits of information about the cat you think is important**

**Question of the day~ what do you think the prophecy means? Is Mistkit going to be the "mist" in the prophecy? What kind of betrayal is it going to be - romantic, Clannic(yes, that's a word, I just SAID it xD) etc.? Please review, it would make me so happy!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Mistkit opened her eyes groggily. Another day in the nursery - boring, boring, and more boring. She couldn't wait until her apprentice ceremony. It wasn't until a moon later. She wasn't getting out of the nursery yet. It was terrible in there. Acornpelt didn't let her out of the camp. And rarely let her out of the nursery. When she got to go out of the nursery, it was mainly because Aspentail had requested her.

As if conjured by her thoughts, Aspentail padded into the nursery. "Hey Mistkit," he purred casually. "Want to help me sort herbs?"

Mistkit's ears pricked. "Yes!" She had taken an interest into healing and herbs.

She charged out of the nursery, relieved to finally get out of the small stuffy space. It was crowded in the nursery.

Mistkit made it to the medicine den much before Aspentail. "Slow down!" the medicine cat panted.

Mistkit grinned. "What are we sorting this time?"

"Actually, we're not sorting anything. I came to ask you if you wanted to be my apprentice, instead of a warrior. You could become a medicine cats and heal, not fight."

Mistkit gaped at him. "You want me to become a medicine cat?"

Aspentail nodded. "You've begged your father to come and help me almost every day the past three moons, you have a great memory, and you have a passion for things that warriors hate doing."

"Yes!" Mistkit jumped up and down. "Can you apprentice me early? I want to get started, I want to get started, I want to get started…."

"Slow down!" Aspentail sighed. "No, I can't apprentice you early, then it wouldn't be fair to the other kits and every kit would want to become a medicine cat apprentice. If we opened up the possibility that you could become an apprentice early by becoming a medicine cat, every single kit would want to become a medicine cat. That invokes jealousy to the cat that gets the position, plus it's just not fair to the other cats."

"Aww." Mistkit's ears drooped. "Can we start training soon, then? I promise I'll train harder than any other cat, and I'll learn everything by the time Frostkit and the others become warriors."

"Fine. But the other kits aren't going to be happy that you're starting early."

Mistkit shrugged. "They can go to any warrior and ask to watch a training session, or ask someone to take them out of camp. If they're too scared to ask a big old scary warrior that's their fault."

Mistkit spent the rest of the day with Aspentail, doing chores in the medicine den with him. It was obvious Aspentail liked her attitude; he pelted her with jobs until dusk.

It wasn't until the moon had risen some way into the sky that Aspentail meowed, "All right Mistkit, nice working with you. But it's almost moonhigh. Go to the nursery, get some rest, and if you want to do the same thing tomorrow that we did today, don't get me until dawn."

"Aww." Mistkit was usually up before sunrise, so the warriors had a hard time sleeping enough.

"Not until dawn!" Aspentail fixed her with a stern glare.

"Fine." Mistkit trudged off to the nursery.

LINE HERE -

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the HighTree for a Clan meeting!" Mistkit was woken by a call from outside the nursery. She scrambled outside; even if she wasn't old enough to hunt, she would listen to what her leader had to say before even she was up. It must be urgent, for Briarstar to wake the Clan up little after moonhigh.

Foxkit, her brother, came after her and sat down beside her as she waited for Briarstar to start talking.

"Cats of ShadowClan," Briarstar began, "it has come to my attention that ThunderClan has been pushing their luck too far. They have been hunting in our territory, challenging our patrols, and setting their borders fox-lengths inside of ours. This behaviour will not be tolerated. Today our dawn patrol will ask why they have been doing this. My prediction is that they will deny it. Then tomorrow, we will bring our warriors and teach them a lesson!"

The Clan cheered at this. ThunderClan had been pushing boundaries for too long. ShadowClan had been discontent because of this for nearly a quarter moon, until Briarstar had decided to take action. The reason for waiting had been because ShadowClan believed in exactly one more chance. They were a merciful Clan, but not if you angered them. ShadowClan had set the markers stronger around the area so ThunderClan knew that ShadowClan were aware of what they was doing.

"Acornpelt, Buzzardstripe, Hornetflash, Hawkshadow, Bayflight, Barkclaw, Shredfur, Jaggedclaw, Marshtail, Chasingpelt, you'll come with me. Cinderstreak and the others, you'll stay here. These will be the groups for tomorrow. For today, Coldflower, Galefang, you'll go with Cinderstreak. Any questions?"

No cat spoke. "Then Cinderstreak, take your patrol and go! May StarClan light your path."

**Hello! It's been a month since I put the prologue out there. Sorry, I was having lots of trouble uploading the chapter :I This chapter's longer than the last, and I'll try to make them all this long. Shoutout to Silverblaze72 who gave me tons of support and encouragement. Go follow her, she's awesome! I forgot to tell ya'll last chapter that Impeccably Bizarre gave me the OCs for Mistkit, Cloudkit, Darkkit, Duskkit, and Frostkit. You guys haven't seen Cloudkit, Duskkit, Darkkit, or Frostkit yet because I haven't put them in yet. They should make an appearance next chapter. Bizarre gets credit for those five's names, looks, and personalities. But she doesn't get credit for the roles they play xD except she chose Misteh's role as medicine cat and the others as warriors, but that's it ;3 One last thing, last chapter I named "Allegiances and Chapter 1" but that was the prologue, not chapter 1 *facepalm* I'm having trouble renaming it so it's staying how it is right now. **


	3. Chapter 2

Mistkit sat with her tail curled over her paws, waiting for the patrol. She flicked an ear agitatedly. Why did they have to take so long?

There! Pawsteps pattering into the entrance of the ShadowClan camp. Mistkit rushed over to the entrance. "What did they say?" she squeaked eagerly to the deputy.

Cinderstreak looked down at her, whiskers twitching in amusement. "They said that there was no way they had done that, that there must have been some mistake. "Maybe the scent had drifted over the border," they said. "Maybe the squirrel you found the other day was killed by a fox," they said." He glared at nothing. "Liars."

"Can I help destroy them?" Mistkit mewed, pouncing on a leaf and shredding it. "I know I'm going to be a medicine cat, and that's like the best position EVER, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to rip all their ears off. They don't GET to do that. Rrgh."

Cinderstreak twitched his whiskers, amused. "Too bad you're not going to become a warrior. We could use your enthusiasm."

"No! I'm going to be a medicine cat!" Mistkit picked up one of the tiny shreds of the leaf and dropped it at Cinderstreak's paws.

A yowl from the HighTree interrupted their conversation. Mistkit padded over to the large tree, wondering what her leader had to say.

"Our patrol has just gotten back," Briarstar mewed.

_Oh, so that was what it was about._ Nothing important. Briarstar was just relaying what WindClan had said to defend themselves. Mistkit zoned out for most of the speech, but shook herself back awake when the Clan cheered. _I hope nobody gets hurt in this battle._

LINE HERE -

_Lightning split the sky open, and thunder crashed shortly after. Rain poured from the skies, drenching everything. Why did it have to be a storm?_

_Briarstar leaped over a log. Blood was trickling down a flank and her ear was a mess, but other than that she looked fine. "ShadowClan! Forward!" she screeched, as much to be heard over the storm than triumphantly._

_The mass of cats fighting surged ahead, and the other half broke away and fled into the open moor hills. ShadowClan had won!_

_Suddenly, a yowl ripped free from a cat's throat as the last WindClan warrior leaped on a ShadowClan one, grabbed his neck and snapped it in one fluid motion. Eyes shining, the killer turned and ran, probably anticipating the tidal wave of fury, shock, and righteous vengeful feelings. How could WindClan stoop so low as to murder?_

_Briarstar crept closer to the dead ShadowClan warrior, grief already showing on her face although she didn't know who it was that was killed. She turned the body over. "Acornpelt! No!"_

"No!" Mistkit woke with a start. What she had seen... she dearly hoped that wouldn't come true. It was just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream...

_Mistkit was hunting in a lush forest filled with mice. Yes, she _was _going to be a medicine cat, but she still loved to pretend that she was going to hunt._

_Pawsteps thundered behind her, and she whipped around to see a black and white cat. "Who are you?" she asked him. He ignored her, instead running in front of her, facing away. He crouched down, into the hunters' crouch. Suddenly her father appeared a few tail-lengths away from the strange cat. Acornpelt appeared not to know the other cat was there. Then the black and white cat leaped on Acornpelt, grabbing his neck in his jaws. Mistkit knew what he was doing, and she also knew that she was powerless to stop it from happening._

She woke up once again, chilled to the bone. Why was she having all these dreams? Was it a sign from StarClan? Well, if it was, she didn't want to have those dreams.

She padded out of the nursery and over to the warriors' den. She had to warn Acornpelt.

"Acornpelt," Mistkit hissed into the darkness. She didn't want to go in and find him and get her ears clawed by tripping over one of the sleeping lumps' tail.

No one even twitched an ear. "Acornpelt!" Mistkit whispered a little louder. Still no answer.

Mistkit gave up. She walked back to the nursery and went back to sleep. This time, her sleep wasn't riddled with nightmares.

LINE -

Mistkit woke up a little while after dawn. _Now I can tell Acornpelt not to fight! _she thought.

Mistkit padded out of the nursery. Before she started over to the warriors' den, she noticed something. _Wait. Why is the camp so empty?_

Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. Mistkit ran up to Cinderstreak, who was sprawled out lazily in the clearing. "Where is everyone?"

He looked up. "They left a while ago, in order to catch WindClan's dawn patrol."

_Oh, no!_ Mistkit would have to wait until they got back! She had to warn her father. She couldn't just sit around like a lump!

As if reading her mind, Cinderstreak mewed, "I'm not going to let you go out there. I know you're anxious for your father, but I'm sure he'll be fine."

Frustrated, Mistkit growled under her breath.

_I know!_ She would go to Aspentail. Surely he would understand. Maybe he got dreams from StarClan all the time. Mistkit knew that he did get them, she just didn't know how often. But that didn't matter.

She raced across camp to the medicine den.

"Aspentail!" Nothing. "Aspentail!" Still nothing. "ASPENTAIL!" No sound came out of the den as she waited patiently outside. Not even a muffled sound indicating that he was dealing with herbs.

Frustrated, she sprinted around the perimeter of the camp until she was exhausted. She did this whenever she was either bored or waiting for someone or something; Cinderstreak had suggested this as a way to get her exercise, chase away boredom(pun intended), and get her endurance up. She was quite good at it by now.

Mistkit limped back to the den. This time she yowled "ASPENTAIL! Where _are_ you?" and barged into the den. No one was in the den.

The amused face of Cinderstreak appeared in the den. "Stop yowling," he purred. "Aspentail went with the patrol to treat wounded warriors as soon as possible.

"Urgh… that's so frustrating! I need to tell him something. It's _important!"_

"Well, it's going to have to wait until the patrol gets back. They should be getting back soon."

A couple minutes later, the patrol got back. Well, actually, Coldflower burst into the camp with a desperate air of her.

"Cinderstreak!" she screeched. "Come quickly! There's been a death!"

**Uh oh… things aren't going so well for poor Mistkit! Extra long chapter ;3 Thanks a ton for everyone that Followed and/or Favorited me! It really means a lot for me. Thank you so much again for Silverblaze The Mighty, she is so awesome with her compliments, she's inflated my ego too much :3 thank you for all the support ya'll have been giving me!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"_What?"_ Mistkit stared at Coldflower, dumbfounded. "WHO?!"

"Um," Coldflower stammered. "Um, it was, uh... well, Mistkit, I am so sorry. It was Acornpelt."

"No!" Mistkit wailed in grief. Why couldn't she have saved him? She had the chance. Waking up a bunch of grumpy warriors and having her ears practically ripped off was better than her father dying.

She ran into the nursery, lay down, and curled her tail over her nose. She could have saved him. She _would_ have saved him. Those dreams had been too vivid to be normal dreams. Even nightmares. Why couldn't she have listened to StarClan?

LINE-

"Cats of ShadowClan, I will not be young and alive forever, as some of you may believe. It's time I took on an apprentice. I have chosen a cat that has stayed strong through rough times, shown an interest in healing herbs, does not flinch at the sight of wounds. All good qualities for a future medicine cat. Your next medicine cat will be Mistpaw!" Aspentail stood on the HighTree.

"Mistpaw, do you accept the post of apprentice to Aspentail?" Briarstar addressed the newly named Mistpaw.

"I do." Mistpaw was nearly bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Then tonight, at the half moon, you must travel to the Moonpool to be accepted by StarClan before the other medicine cats." Aspentail spoke again.

"The good wishes of all ShadowClan go with you," Briarstar mewed.

"Yay! Let's go, let's go!" Mistpaw leaped down from the HighTree. It was very late sunhigh and they would be making the journey to the Moonpool very soon. "Aspentail, I know what the traveling herbs are! Sorrel, daisy, burnet, and juniper. Right?"

"Yep," meowed Aspentail. He purred. "Nice job. I can see you'll be a great medicine cat for ShadowClan one day."

"One day?!" Mistpaw mewed, mock outraged. "I'm a great medicine cat _now!"_

Aspentail twitched his whiskers in amusement. "Sorry. Slip of the tongue, O Great Medicine Cat. Will you be so kind as to forgive me of my sin?"

Mistpaw pranced around the camp. "Of course, but only if we leave for the Moonpool _right now."_

"Humor her," she heard Briarstar whisper to Aspentail as she walked past. She could hear the smile in her voice. "Hey! I heard that!"

Aspentail _mrrowed_ in laughter. "You caught me! Okay, let's go." He headed out of camp without giving her a chance to get another word in.

Mistpaw followed him enthusiastically. She was so excited to finally become a medicine cat apprentice. She felt like this was what she was meant to do - heal. She had always flinched on the inside when a cat got hurt, yet as Aspentail said, she pushed down her fear and concentrated on what she could do to help. She had only seen wounds twice, once when Bayflight got a thorn stuck in her paw, and twice in the battle when her father - he - well, he - she didn't even want to think about it. She missed him so much, but she had Foxpaw, and that had to count for something.

Sooner than she had expected, they arrived at the Moonpool. They were the last ones there. Mistpaw was mesmerized by the way waves gently lapped at the shore and the way the stars glimmered in the pool.

She shook herself out of her daze and listened to what Aspentail was saying.

" - got an apprentice today," he was meowing. "I expect she'll be a fantastic medicine cat when I'm gone.

"Mistpaw, is it your wish to enter the mysteries of StarClan as a medicine cat?" Aspentail turned to Mistpaw.

"It is."

"Then come forward."

Mistpaw padded forward to the edge of the pool.

"Cats of StarClan, I present to you this apprentice. She has chosen the path of a medicine cat. Grant her your insight and wisdom so that she may learn your will and heal her Clanmates in accordance with your ways. Dip your head and touch your nose to the surface of the Moonpool," he instructed.

Mistpaw blinked. "Now?"

Aspentail purred. "Yes, now."

Mistpaw hesitantly did what he told her to do. Almost instantly she was enveloped by a swirl of images and voices.

She saw a dark gray cat with distinct white markings on her flanks - it looked like a grown up Mistpaw. Was this what she would look like when she grew up? She saw a silver tom - Frostpaw, she wondered? - and a black one that she didn't recognize because of all his battle scars. "_Mist will... havoc... murderer is found... one will perish..."_ She heard mutterings. She heard a shriek, then it was abruptly cut off. Every hair on Mistpaw's pelt stood up. She didn't like this one bit. The whispers continued, solidifying until she it was a continuous roar in her ears. Now she could hear what they were saying. "_Mist will rise up against the darkness that is not who they seem. One will perish, havoc will wreak among the Clans until the murderer is found, and mist will choose between power and death." What? _That had sounded like a prophecy. Images continued to flash - a broken body lying in the middle of the camp, cats running about, that scarred tom again, then Frostpaw. Frostpaw again. More Frostpaw. Then Frostpaw's narrowed glare zeroed in on her.

She woke up with chills running down her back. Wow.

She saw that she had been the first to wake up. Mistpaw used the time to try to piece together what she'd seen.

Who was the battle-scarred black tom she had seen? And why had Frostpaw appeared so much? What effect did this have on her future? She was pretty sure that had been a prophecy she'd heard. Questions were buzzing in her head. Why her?

Mistpaw pondered all of this for a while until the other medicine cats woke up. Aspentail had told her not to share her dreams with anyone unless it concerned the well-being of a Clan or a life.

The next morning, she yawned and stumbled out of the medicine den. Mistpaw bumped into Aspentail coming into the den. "Oh, there you are," he mewed. Mistpaw bit back a sarcastic reply - yes, where in the name of StarClan else would she be? Fishing with RiverClan? - and trudged back into the den.

"Today, we're going to get you to learn and memorize the basic herbs. Juniper, marigold, goldenrod, cobweb - I assume you know what those are for?"

Mistpaw replied, "Juniper is for bellyaches, marigold for healing infection, goldenrod for healing wounds, and cobweb to stop bleeding."

Aspentail nodded. "Very good. Can you tell me what this is?" He hooked a fuzzy green leaf with his claws.

"Uh... um... parsley?"

"Nope, good guess. This is catmint, easily distinguished by its scent."

"Oh yes, I remember now. What's next?"

Aspentail hooked a small white flower. "What's this?"

Just as Mistpaw was going to say "chervil", she got interrupted by paws pattering into the den. "Aspentail," she heard a voice meow, "I've got a thorn in my paw."

Mistpaw turned around to see Frostpaw standing there holding his paw out gingerly. His eyes flitted to the side as if he had only just noticed she were there. "Hey, Mistpaw." He nodded. "We miss you out there." Mistpaw had been close friends with him, Darkkit, Cloudkit, and Duskkit.

"We were out patrolling for the first time, exploring the territory with our mentors and we were walking by a bramble bush." Frostpaw winced. "It hurts."

Mistpaw purred. "Well, of course it hurts. You've got a thorn stuck in your pad." She looked over to Aspentail. "Can I handle this? You've showed me how." He nodded, and she started cleaning the area around the thorn with her tongue and he tensed for just a second then relaxed again like nothing had happened. _I wonder what that was about._ Oh well. It probably was just nothing.

She grasped the thorn in her jaws and tugged. It came out, followed by a rush of blood.

"Ow!" He started licking the pad fiercely.

"Don't lick it too hard," Mistpaw cautioned. "That might make it worse."

Reluctantly he licked it gentler. "Well, thanks, I guess. See you later." He took a couple of steps and then added, "Good luck doing whatever medicine cats do."

After he was gone, Mistpaw snorted. He was an interesting cat. It would take some time to figure him out.

**ooh so she's figured out that things are most likely going to heat up soon... IN TWO WAYS ;D YAY IT'S A WHOLE FOUR PAGESSSS Question of the day~ who's she going to fall for initially? I'm having a lot of fun writing this right now, I just wrote like two thirds of this chapter tonight, it's 3:50 AM right now so I'm having great fun thinking of how this story could go... I mean, I've got it mostly blocked out by now but still LITTLE DETAILS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ;3 Okay now I'm kinda ranting, this is what happens when I stay up this late... Or early, or whatever you want to call it. NOTE: I wrote this at 3:50 AM and not uploaded it at the same time because our wifi goes to sleep at 10.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4**

"Mistpaw!" Mistpaw woke to an annoyed Aspentail hovering over her. "It's nearly sunhigh!"

Mistpaw groaned.

"You have to change the bedding and sort those herbs. Come on, up up up!" Aspentail barked out orders.

"All right..." Mistpaw mewed grumpily, and slid out of her nest. _Change the bedding first. Humph._

She called over to Aspentail, who had walked halfway across the den. "Do I need to gather moss or do we already have some for me to change out?"

"Go gather moss." Aspentail flicked his tail in a "go away" sort of motion.

Mistpaw sighed with relief. _Finally! It's about time I got out of this stuffy camp._ She padded out of camp and walked until she got to the edge of territory. She breathed in the air, smug. _That's the scent of my Clan. ShadowClan._ It had been three moons since she had been apprenticed, and one of the first things Aspentail had taught her was never to cross the border.

"Even though you're a medicine cat," he had meowed, "the other Clans will not take a trespasser lightly. Especially a ShadowClan trespasser. Even if you're a medicine cat apprentice and you don't know any better."

Mistpaw had bristled at the "don't know any better" part, and he had laid his tail on her shoulder. "That's what they're going to _think._ Even though you would CERTAINLY have a VERY GOOD EXPLANATION, they're not going to believe it. ThunderClan and ShadowClan have been at each others' throats for a very long time, believe me, and if you wander onto ThunderClan territory - ThunderClan is very fair, they love the warrior code, and if you went to their territory now, at worst you'd be let off with a warning. But in a couple of moons, when you're full grown**(By the way, fun fact about cats - they stop growing when they're 8 to 12 moons old. They'll keep their kitten fluff a little while longer than that, though)**, when they can clearly see you know better, at best you'll be let off with a scar to remember them by. And most likely no one's going to be there to save you."

Now, three moons later, she _was_ full grown**(Nine moons old)** and she stood at the edge of ShadowClan territory. She wasn't in it, though; she made sure of it. But she stood right on the edge of the scent markers, taunting them.

After a minute Mistpaw went to find a tree with good enough moss on it. She wandered around for a bit until she found a good tree. It was really close to the border, though. _Oh well, they'll have to deal with me being so close to the border. At least this tree's not in ThunderClan territory._

Mistpaw spent a couple moments stripping the tree of its moss. She was almost done when she heard a voice screech, "Hey!"

She turned to see a heavily scarred white tom with golden eyes bounding toward her. He reeked of ThunderClan, and as she watched, three other cats emerged from the surrounding oaks.

Mistpaw took a step back. "Why did you do that? I'm not doing anything wrong…"

He glared at her. "Why are you so close to the border?"

Mistpaw stiffened. "I'm allowed to be in my own territory, you know. I'm allowed to be gathering moss, and right now, I'm not particularly close to the border." She had backed up several steps when she saw them.

"Coldpelt, calm down. She's just an apprentice. I'm sure she means no harm." A light brown she-cat spoke up.

The white tom, Coldpelt, rounded on her. "She was a fox-length away from the border! She's in ShadowClan, also. She can't be trusted!"

Mistpaw growled softly. "I'm right here, you know. And you can shut up; why can't you see past your own nose and notice that I'm gathering MOSS? No, you have to assume that I'm spying on you or something." She sniffed. "ThunderClan are so stupid."

In an instant, he was right up near the border. "ThunderClan are NOT stupid! It's ShadowClan that are stupid, you mange-pelt! I bet your fur is infested with fleas right now."

Mistpaw laughed. "Running out of insults. Weak. And look who's near the border now. Why are _you_ so close to the border? Spying on us?"

Coldpelt looked like he was restraining himself, then mewed calmly, "Are you trying to pick a fight?"

Mistpaw blinked. "How am I supposed to answer that? If I say no, you'll see me as cowardly, whereas if I say yes, you'll beat me in a heartbeat. Plus, I'm a medicine cat. So I guess the answer is no."

"You're… you're a medicine cat?" Coldpelt looked at her in surprise.

"Well, not technically a medicine cat, just a medicine cat apprentice. I better get going." Mistpaw turned, picked up her moss, and walked away. As she left, she heard the light brown she-cat mutter, "Weird. They just get stranger."

Mistpaw bit back an insult at the end, picked her moss up again, and stalked away.

She remembered Aspentail's instructions: _If you ever meet a ThunderClan cat outside of Gatherings, it'll probably be because they thought you crossed the border. ThunderClan are _so _paranoid. Just be honest. They, unfortunately, are mostly good at detecting liars, and I'm SURE you'll never go across the border. So you won't need to lie. In the instance that you do meet a ThunderClan cat, be passive-aggressively polite, and report whatever you find. Try to find out their names, too._

Mistpaw had done all of that. Well, mostly. She had been a little more than passive-aggressive, and she certainly wasn't _polite_, but too bad. How are you expected to be polite to a rival Clan? She had even gotten one of their names - Coldpelt, the white tom with the weird yellow eyes.

When she got back to camp, she went straight to Aspentail and relayed what had happened.

"You handled that perfectly," he praised her when she was done. "They were probably scared out of their skins at a little apprentice insulting them."

"Oh, shut up!" Mistpaw mewed in amusement. "They were probably even more intimidated by the fact that I'm a medicine cat apprentice and know zero fighting moves. I'm not sure I'd want to fight, if it came to it. I'm much happier healing."

"Oh! That reminds me," Aspentail meowed. "I've been wanting to teach you some moves. Even though you're a medicine cat, rival Clans might forget that, or you might get attacked by a fox or something like that."

Mistpaw sighed. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, you have to. Learning how to fight is better than being killed by a fox because you don't know how to land a blow."

"Fine…"

They spent the rest of the day training. When they got back, Aspentail told her she could have first pick of the fresh-kill pile. "You've done so well today," he complimented her.

"Thank you!" Mistpaw said excitedly. After she was done, she went straight to sleep. It was only barely sundown when she fell asleep.

She woke up at moonhigh to hear pawsteps pattering out of camp, it sounded like. Sure enough, when she got up to investigate, she could see a tail disappearing out of sight in the camp entrance. It was too dark to see anything, though, so she decided to follow them.

Every hair on her body prickled with unease as she stepped quietly out of camp. She had never been good at stealth, but this time fear was lending her silent pawsteps. _Who was it?_

* * *

**YASSS IT ONLY TOOK ME SIX DAYS TO PUT THIS OUT THERE YAY FOR ME ^-^ I'm so proud of myself :3 This was basically just a filler, and I hate writing fillers SO SO SO MUCH so I tend to knock them out quickly. Fillers are necessary even though I hate them. I mean, she can't have an action-filled life down to the last second, can she?**


	6. Sorry

okay, so it's been so long and thank you for your support, but I'm putting this story on hold for now. I'm not a celebrity on here (or even close to it) so sorry for this little note thing, but I feel like it's really important to communicate with readers. I've kind of lost interest in this story, but I'll probably continue it... sometime...

Thanks a ton for reading this up to here, and I will be writing another Warriors story on this account (it's just floating around my brain right now, haven't come up with a title or even started writing it yet) but it should be a lot of fun, for me at least. Here's a hint: I hope you're into BloodClan.

Maybe I'll even write a MegxCastiel story lol :3 Goodbye for now my lovelies!

xx,

River


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